Friday, 24 September 2010

Murphy, Petronas farm into Brunei block

Total has signed a deed of amendment (DOA) with Petroleum Brunei concerning deepwater block CA-1, previously known as Brunei block J.

The DOA amends the original production sharing contract for the block, signed in 2003, and allows Petronas Carigali Overseas and Murphy Oil subsidiary Canam Brunei to join the existing consortium. Total will remain operator with a 54% interest, the other partners being BHP Billiton and Hess.

Deepwater block CA-1 covers over 5,850 sq km (2,258 sq mi) in water depths ranging from 1,000- 2,750 m (3,280-9,022 ft). It is around 100 km (62 mi) northwest of the coast of Brunei Darussalam.

Marc Blaizot, senior VP, Geosciences at Total Exploration & Production, said the new agreement would ‘‘enable exploration operations to resume on this promising block, and a drilling campaign to start within a short period of time based on the seismic studies already performed’’. - offshore-mag